Saturday, February 26, 2005

We've been talking about sex, and this is a subject that people are pretty shy about. But sexuality is second-chakra stuff, second only to core survival in the ability to raise your energy. A kink in this chakra can cause ghastly damage. Rape, abuse, premature sexual experience, sexual guilt, etc.--all can cripple your energy. If we are going to be fully alive and aware, the proper use of this energy is critical. ## I thought I would ask you guys what exactly sexuality is to you? To begin to define the arena. There is so much here, including questions of when sex is and is not appropriate. Was sex appropriate between a President and an intern? Between strangers? Between children? I think that we all have our rules, and it's important to have those rules operating at conscious levels. ## For me, sex is appropriate between adults (those who support themselves) when there is genuine honesty about what the reciprocal obligations and communications. Both people must understand what sex means to the other. For instance, there are many people for whom sex means love. No matter what they say, no matter what the context, if you have sex with them, they think it means "I love you." And you had bettter understand that, or you are going to run into real problems. ## For me, sex is communication, entertainment, stress relief, spiritual connection, comfort, intellectual adventure, and physical art form. I (almost) never had sex with anyone I wouldn't have been willing to take a call from at 3 in the morning if they were in trouble. I always tried to treat my partners as I would want someone to treat my sister, my mother, or my daughter. And I've made mistakes. There were times I wound up in bed with someone who was more damaged than I anticipated, and the results were pretty gruesome. But with perhaps one exception, I am still on friendly terms with every lady with whom I've shared intimacy, and treasure about 98% of my memories.

About Me

For the last thirty years or so I’ve been a lecturer, coach, novelist and television writer. For the last forty years I’ve been involved variously in the martial arts, and for all my life I’ve studied and enjoyed yoga. Not that I worked at it as hard and honestly as I should have—I’d be a combination of BKS Iyengar and Bruce Lee if I had.
After publishing about three million words of science fiction (including the New York Times bestsellers The Legacy of Heorot and The Cestus Deception) and having about twenty hours of produced television shows (including The Twilight Zone, Outer Limits, Andromeda, and Stargate, as well as four episodes of the immortal Baywatch), I’ve got opinions on the writing life.
After earning black belts in Judo and Karate, and practicing the Indonesian art of Pentjak Silat Serak for the last fifteen, well, I have some opinions there, as well. And having struggled to live consciously since childhood...well, those opinions are probably strongest of all.